Neverwinter Forest Out and about

Since the puppers are a month old I figured Eimear could get in a little trouble. Open to anyone near the den!

Things had not gotten much better for the pack as a whole. Eimear was still struggling for a good long sleep, her siblings still kicked at her every time she felt safe and secure next to the lump that was Mom, and her tummy ached. She did not know why these things happened or why they kept happening, only that she was uncomfortable, and somehow it had to stop. Perhaps this need was what got her up on her feet? She was roaming farther from Mom's warm belly fur than ever before!

At first she was indignant. One too many kicks to the head can cause that, y'know. Then, as she wobbled on her new legs and gracelessly stumbled with her oversized paws through the dust and light, Eimear became enthralled. The light from outside the den was calling to her! It danced as she did. It was warm and sweet smelling, like her mother. As she passed from the safe haven in to the unknown world beyond, the little girl loosed an awed little gasp as her big blue eyes bore witness to the world outside.

Then she tripped on herself and fell flat on her face.

Sister thread! :D

Szabala was getting used to this new change in her life. Her vision had gotten better in the past week, though it was still fairly blurry. She was mobile now, and that made for a lot of mischief. Seeing that one of the other living things was leaving the den, a bright idea popped into her little brain. Let's follow them! She wobbled on her stubby legs, but was eventually able to follow after her sister. She yipped and shrieked for her to wait for her as she scampered as fast as her little legs would go. As inexperienced as she was at moving about, she was moving pretty fast! She was so excited to be moving, she didn't realize that she was barreling straight towards Eimear. Eimear tripped and fell upon her face, and Szabala, unable to stop, crashed into her, flying over Eimear's head and landing on the other side wth a thud. She cried out in frustration and shook her head in confusion. What just happened?

All was forgotten as she gazed around, amazed at the scenery. For all her her life so far, she had been living in a very small world. The whelping den walls were comforting and dark, cradling their family in it's arms, but Szabala had never been able to see the outside world. Now, everything was a lot larger than the little princess had thought. There were these things, thick in width and brown, looming up above the two sisters and reaching for the space above them with wicked looking arms. She looked down at her paws, and she found she was sitting upon some kind of soft brown stuff. She looked around again with her big blue eyes filled with wonderment.

Going down was a fun thing, sort of, except for the landing-on-her-face thing; and then there was something else, something hitting at her neck and head and tumbling over her. It was so fast! All these feelings, and none of them good. The girl squawked and cried from beneath her sister's puddle of a body that sat across her shoulders, and she wriggled free, backpedaling as much as she could. She peeped an indignant little noise as she rolled back. Her forelimbs flailed as she pushed off of her sister, and then Eimear was falling again — but in reverse. Pivoting on her rounded haunch until she was flat on her back and uncomfortable, because there were stones digging in to her back. She did not like this outside; and from her vantage point on her back, she could see in to the dark hole that was the den, although it was on the wrong side of her upside-down vision. Thinking that this meant she was safe, she cooed and murmured all kinds of happy sounds, and reached out with all her uncoordinated feet for the darkness there.

All of that wonderment disappeared as she realized she was draped over the top of one of the small lumps that lived with her. She tilted her head and peeped as Eimear struggled beneath her. Eventually, her sister had pushed her off and Szabala rolled onto the soft brown stuff. She shrieked in fear as she stood back up, realizing that this brown stuff was upon her.

It was all over her silvery down and she leaped and tumbled around, trying to free herself of these monsters. They were trying to eat her! In the meantime, Eimear had fallen on her back and was flailing her paws in the air, but Szabala was completely oblivious in her frenzy.  "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!" She shrieked. It was her first real babble of sorts, but Szabala didn't care. She was being eaten alive! 

She'd managed to get off most of the brown flecks, but some still clung to her fur. She continued to cry out, and her ruckus most probably could be heard fairly far away.

Somehow during her reach-and-wiggle routine Eimear flopped back over on to her belly, and this should've made her quite happy., Her vision was corrected, and the dark blob that served as the den mouth was now back where it ought to be; but as she had flopped over, her little belly and her ribs had been poked at by a pile of twigs that were scattered beneath her. The girl hadn't noticed them when she was upside-down because the world was so strange looking, and so silly, and she had been distracted. But now that she was on her belly and being jabbed at, she let out a, Ssqaahh! and wiggled, trying to coordinate herself and kick the sticks out from underneath. In the process of this, Eimear managed to do a frog-kick from one spot to the next, lurching towards the den mouth, and upon landing she murmured another series of forboding Aaahb, sounds and a few Ooms!

Suddenly, all was forgotten once again as her sister let out yet another cry. A rush of emotion fell over her, one that she had never felt before. She knew happy, and sad, and mad. She knew amusement and fright. But this one, it was new to her. Concern. She scampered over to Eimear just as she got to her paws and began making her way to the den's mouth. "Ooo aye?" She called after her, trying to mimick the words spoken by Mommy and Daddy. 

She trotted to her shoulder to walk beside Eimear on their long journey home.